South Korea won the show down match versus Kazakhstan (32-31), but failed to win by enough goals to pass Kazakhstan in the head to head goal differential tiebreaker. In the other final match Japan had easily taken care of winless Qatar 49-10 to leave open the possibility of a 3 way tie between Kazakhstan, Japan and South Korea. Korea however, failed to win by the necessary 4 goals, thus securing Kazakhstan its first ever Handball participation in an Olympics. As consolation South Korea’s win did secure a spot in one of the pre-Olympic qualification tournaments next Spring. South Korea will also have an opportunity to qualify for the Olympics at the World Championship in France this December. An outright win would secure automatic qualification, and placing 2-4th will secure hosting rights for a pre-Olympic tournament.

[b]Final Standings W T L Pts GF GA GD[/b]
Kazakhstan 2 0 1 4 103 68 +35
Japan 2 0 1 4 100 66 +34
South Korea 2 0 1 4 105 77 +28
Qatar 0 0 3 0 41 138 -97

[b]Korea – Japan – Kazakhstan (Head to Head Standing) W T L Pts GF GA GD[/b]
Kazakhstan 1 0 1 2 59 54 +5
South Korea 1 0 1 2 60 60 0
Japan 1 0 1 2 51 56 -5

[b]Final Ranking[/b]
1) Kazakhstan
2) South Korea
3) Japan
4) Qatar

Women’s Olympic Qualification: http://teamhandballnews.com/page18.html